723402-1859-VOTES-AND-PROCEEDINGS-OF-THE-LEGISLATIVE-COUNCL-OF-HONGKONG-NO-27-OF-1858-WEDNESDAY-8th-DECEMBER-1858- — Page 1

THE

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Hongkong

Government

GAZETTE.

SERIES.

VICTORIA, SATURDAY, 8TH JANUARY, 1859. VOL. IV. No. 190.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.

The Contract for publishing this Gazette, entered into on the 24th September, 1853, was terminated on the 30th ultimo; and notice is hereby pixen, that a NEW SERIES of this Gazette will be published hereafter, to commence from the 7th instant, under a New Contract, and that

"THE HOngkong GOVERNMENT GAZETTE"

as before, be the only Official Organ for PROCLAMAtions, NOTIFICATIONS, and PUBLIC PAPERS, of this Government.

By Order,

Calmial Secretary's Office, Victoria, Hongkong, 2d July, 1855.

W. T. MERCER, Colonial Secretary.

VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF HONGKONG.

No. 27 of 1858.

WEDNESDAY, 8th DECEMBER, 1858.

PRESENT:

THE HONOURABLE THE ACTING GOVERNOR PRESIDING, AND ALL THE MEMBERS.

Council met to-day, pursuant to adjournment.

Minutes of the Council, held on the 4th instant, were read and approved.

Ag into Committee of the whole Council for the further consideration of the Estimates for 1859, Hourable The Acting Governor expressed himself in the following terms:-

"In resuming the adjourned Debate on the Estimates' Ordinance, I wish to lay down the course which

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e Government, after reflection on last Saturday's Proceedings, has come to the conclusion to adopt.

Although concurring in the main with the wishes and intentions of the Council as expressed on Saturday, I feel that I cannot do more than sanction the amendment of Sir John Bowring's Ordinance, in so far as that amendment is necessary and imperative.

I propose therefore to add a certain Sum to the Works and Buildings, which Sum may be stated in vo divisions: 1st, a Sum of £5,653.1.9,-the Balances due on the Surveyor General's Works already in progress, and which will have to be paid in the ensuing Year. I presume the non-entry of this item in the Estimates to have been an oversight, for I find it distinctly laid down, that un-expended Balances at the end of One Year must be re-charged on the Estimates of the ensuing. This item therefore becomes a necessity; erwise I should have shrunk from interference with the Estimates prepared under Sir John Bowring's $rection.

"The next Sum is one of £5,000, which was agreed to by the Council for the reasons given by the Colonial Secretary, and supported by the Honourable Mr Lyall. It is an Expenditure that can no longer bdelayed, as Government is pledged to perform its engagements to the Public without delay, and that portion of the Bowring Praya opposite the Lower Bazaar and Central Market must be at once carried out. In giving consideration hereafter to the Praya Ordinance, this special provision can always be borne in mind.

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The Lock Hospital Receipts and Expenditure must also appear, as all money passing through the Treasury (as this does by terms of Ordinance No. 12 of 1857) must be regularly brought into the Colonial Accounts of Revenue and Expenditure.

These are the only alterations I can sanction, and the Ordinance as amended, I will now read to you." Ordinance having been read and agreed to, His Honour resumed :-

Before formally proposing the passing of this Ordinance, I wish to state that I am ready to adopt and pport the Expenditure on Public Works which the Council agreed to on Saturday, but that I can only do tis in my Despatch to the Secretary of State; and if the Secretary of State sanctions the Expenditure, I presume that the Council can entertain an amended Estimate. But as time presses, I am anxious to get over this Ordinance, too long delayed already, and I therefore move that this Ordinance as amended do pass, and that the Title be- An Ordinance to apply a Sum not exceeding Seventy-six Thousand Pounds to the Plic Service of the Year, 1859.""

stion pat and passed, the Ordinance being numbered "No. 15 of 1858.”